Battle Feathers
by Catgirlz99
Summary: Oneshot in the Graceful Descent 'verse. Gabriel teaches Sam about his angel powers.


**AN- hello my faithful readers! I really need to come up with a name for you guys, you are so amazing! This little oneshot is for all of you guys, for putting up with me, my craziness, and the random mess that is my ANs. THANK YOU! YOU ARE ALL AMAZING! **

**IMPORTANT! **

**THIS WILL MAKE ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE IF YOU HAVNT READ GRACEFUL DESCENT! **

**Okay, I'm done now**

**Read on. **

**-Emma (who is currently trying to make up for the major case of writers block on The Tricksters Son by posting this.) **

**Disclaimer: if I owned supernatural, Adam would be out of the cage by now. Ooh! That gives me an idea! *runs off and writes* **

Sam stood in the center of a large clearing, wings spread out behind him in a graceful arc of black feathers.

Gabriel stood beside him, his wings unfolded as well. They seemed to sparkle in the afternoon sun, the golden feathers quivering in anticipation, ready to fly after millennia years of being tucked away, hidden from prying eyes.

Gabriel smirked as Sam gazed in awe at the six wings spread out behind him.

"They're not that impressive, you should see Michael's, they're beautiful, hell, even take a look at yours."

Sam frowned at him, glancing at the less impressive black wings. Well, compared to Gabriel's they were unimpressive. On their own, they were beautiful.

Sam had discovered, after a small mishap in a high school gymnasium, that Dean's original guess at Sam's wingspan was far off.

When they had first torn themselves free from his back, Dean had estimated the wingspan at around six feet. Unknown to him at the time, Sam's wings had been partially folded. Their full span was about 18 feet. Dean had made a joke about them needing to support his weight, and had only laughed harder when Castiel mentioned that Sam did have larger wings than most angels (excluding archangels) and that what Dean said was correct.

His wings were pitch black, with small silver flecks along the bottom, and small patches of a deep color that could only be described as blood red. Castiel had said that his wings were a physical manifestation of his soul, and it had bothered Sam for several nights that a physical manifestation of his soul was black and red.

Gabriel had helped with that by explaining that lots of angels had black wings, and by pointing out the silver flecks, "silver is the purest color," Sam remembered him saying, "Michael's wings were flecked with silver, they represent the good in him." Lucifer had silver in his wings too, but Gabriel had decided not to mention that.

"Alright Sam, lets see if you can summon your angel blade." Gabriel's voice snapped Sam out of his musings.

"Hmm? Yeah, uh, okay..." Sam stuttered, unprepared for the sudden interruption.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Come on Sammy, pay attention."

"It's Sam." He mumbled, than focused on summoning the angel blade Gabriel had "borrowed" from another angel.

The blade appeared in his hand, ready for use.

Gabriel smiled, "attack me."

Sam stared, "what?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes again, "dad, Sammich, you sound like an idiot."

Sam glared, "it's Sam, and what if you get hurt?"

"Trust me, I won't."

Sam took a deep breath, raised that blade, and ran forward.

The fight was over quickly, Gabriel pinned Sam, one foot planted on his chest, his blade against his throat.

"I win."

It continued like this for several hours, until one fight, Sam was trying to avoid yet another loss, and Gabriel swung his blade at Sam, who, acting on instinct, (the same instinct that led him to smite that demon in Mary's house) flicked one wing up to shield himself from the silver arc of pure destruction.

Sam felt the blade slash across his wing. He braced himself for pain, but nothing happened.

He head Gabriel gasp in surprise.

"How did you get your battle feathers out?" He asked, astonished.

Sam frowned at him, "my what?"

"Your battle feathers, that's advanced stuff." Gabriel explained.

Sam looked closely at the wings, they looked the same as they always did.

"Feel them." Gabriel said, as of he'd read Sam's mind (knowing Gabriel, he probably did.)

Sam reached out and ran his hand along the wings. They where hard as steel, the feathers stiff.

As he watched, a ripple random his wings, and when he felt them again, they were back to their normal softness.

"Wow..." Sam muttered in awe, "I didn't know they did that..."

"Of corse they do," Gabriel exclaimed, "there's actually three different states that they have. There's the normal, every day softness. Then there's battle feathers, harder than diamond. Them there's mating feathers, they're soft and fluffy." Gabriel stated as if angel feathers were common knowledge.

"Huh," Sam said "you learn something new every day."

Gabriel shrugged, "guess trainings over, I'll be back at the motel room."

Sam stood in the clearing for several minutes, thinking about what Gabriel said.

Sam smiled before taking flight, he had seen a more interesting side of the angels today, and he was glad he did.

**the end **


End file.
